learn to fly
by twilightjunkie1313
Summary: This is a story of the beginning, of the flock coming home for the first time, living out of cages, learning to fly and live in a world without walls. This is their escape from itex, and everything good that came from it. read and reveiw
1. Suv

**A/N: Patterson owns the characters... and the plot is Katie3llen's so kudos to her. The words are all mine and the song belongs to the foo fighters (learn to fly).Sorry it's so short, but it's only the prolouge.**

**Enjoy-twilightjunkie1313**

No Pov:

Jeb ran down the dimly lit hallway. In front of him was a cart, on it were the six most important things he had ever seen. In one of the labs, far behind him, lay the seventh.

His son.

Jeb Pov:

The only sound I could hear was the light clunk of my shoes on the tile hall, the slight swooshing of my white coat against my pants. Other than that it was silent. I looked down at the crates, four of them, they were the only thing that mattered to me right now.

In one of the crates Gazzy and Angel slept soundly, both tranquilized. In another there was Iggy and Nudge, unconsious and slumped over in a heap. The third crate held Fang, fully awake and absolutly silent. He had refused, point-blank, to take anything. Right now though he looked like he was alseep.

The last crate held Max. She too had refused to take any medication, but was now acting like she was asleep.

I reached the exterior doors of the complex without any trouble. I rolled the cart across the parking lot and to a dark green suv. I had rented it just for this occasion.

"Hello sir." A voice appeared behind me, i turned slowly to see a guard standing calmly three feet away. He nodded at the crates.

"Whatcha got there?" He asked easily, no authority in his voice at all.

"Experiments, i have to take them to the beta site to be tested." I looked at the crates, and kicked one.

"Stupid assignment, the little buggers are tranked out. I said let the assistants take 'em." I continued easily as i loaded two crates into the suv.

The security guard nodded at me and loaded max's crate into the back. I slid Fang's crate in beside hers and shut the door, pulling the car keys from my pocket.

"Good luck buddy." The security guard said as he turned and walked away.

In less than thrirty seconds i had gotten into the suv, started it and pulled away from the parking lot. Ten minutes after that i was blazing down the road at a legal 65 miles per hour, relaxing more and more as itex vanished behind us.

_Run and tell all of the angels,__  
__This could take all night.__  
__Think I need a devil to help me get things right.__  
__Hook me up a new evolution,_

**A/N: sorry for the cliffie (if you can call it that.) five reveiws and i will post another chapter. much love- twilightjunkie1313**


	2. cheeseburgers

**A/N: thanks for al those who reviewed or even read the story. I still don't own Maximum Ride, Patterson does. bows to Patterson lucky guy. The plot isn't mine- but I didn't steal it this girl (kaite3llen) gave me a challenge for a story. The words are mine and the song is from the foo fighters. Enjoy.**

**-twilightjunkie1313**

Jeb Pov:

I had been driving for a good four hours before I decided to pull off the road. I needed food, the SUV needed gas and the flock needed to stretch their legs.

So I pulled off the road into this nice rest stop and truck stop type place with a small park. It was about eleven at night and there was nobody else around, we were in the middle of nowhere.

I walked to the back of the SUV and opened the back, letting the doors swing open to reveal six angry, sleepy, pale children. The flock.

I opened Max's crate first. She jumped out, landing on the tar on her haunches. She stood, lightly and brushed me aside. In a second she had opened Fang's crate. He jumped out of his crate in a similar fashion, landing on the tar in a crouch. He stood and walked up to max silently, helping her get Gazzy and Angel from their crate.

In less than a minute the whole flock stood on in the parking lot. Max and Fang stood silently, staring at me and the truck stop behind me.

"Are you hungry?" I asked, nobody answered.

"Let's eat." I said, ignoring the silence and walking toward the brightly lit restaurant.

Fang Pov:

This guy was going to get fired. White coats were never nice to us, they weren't supposed to be. This guy...jeb. He had taken us away from the school. He told the security guard that we were going to the beta site, wherever that was. I could tell by his tone that he was lying, that we would never get close to the beta site.

So where were we going? What are we doing here? I looked over to Max, catching her eye. I gave her a what-is-going-on-here stare.

"Stay with it, for now." she breathed, barely making any sound at all.

I nodded and followed the white coat.

Max Pov:

When we reached the door of the building Jeb, the white coat, took Angel out of my arms.

"This is a restaurant, a truck stop." He said slowly.

"What are we doing here?" Nudge asked.

"I will get into that later, right now we should eat. None of these people have wings, and they don't know you. So don't attract attention to yourselves." He said easily.

"What does that mea...?" Nudge began, but Iggy cut her off.

"Stay quiet and don't let them see your wings."

"Oh."

With that we went inside.

It was bright and loud and half full of sleepy people. Some were eating and some were running around with trays of food. I felt the flock tense up, except for angel. Jeb walked through the restaurant quietly, sitting down at a table near the back. One by one we filled in after him. I saw Fang look at the window out of the corner of my eye. He was thinking the same thing I was...

If anything happened we were going through that window, and running away.

Jeb Pov:

For six kids who had never been outside of a barb-wire complex before they were doing pretty good. I handed each of them a menu.

"What's this?" Nudge asked quietly to Max.

"Dunno, ask him." Max replied nodding my way.

"To get food, this is all the stuff that the cooks can make. You order off of it." I explained carefully.

"Oh, Max can I have a cheeseburger? I have never had one before and a guy at the lab..." Nudge quieted when Max shot her a look. Then she turned to me.

"We'll have three cheeseburgers..." Max began.

"Extra lettuce, pickles and tomatoes on mine." Fang muttered quietly.

"Make that four burgers." Iggy added.

"Me too." Gazzy added in an excited whisper.

A few minutes later the waitress came, and eyes us over before smiling hugely.

"Hi, what'll it be for you?" She asked cheerfully. They all stayed quiet, hardly moving or breathing. Max grinned quickly.

"He has our orders." She explained before going silent again.

"Five adult cheeseburgers, extra lettuce, tomatoes and pickles for each. A salad for me and some chicken soup for her..." I motioned to Angel sitting next to me; her head barely cleared the tabletop.

"Okay..." The waitress nodded and finished jotting the order down. "Anything else?"

"Yeah, about thirteen glasses of water." The waitress nodded and walked away.

It was calm and quiet for about two seconds after that.

"Why did you take us from the school?" Max asked, staring at me. The whole flock was staring at me. Except for angel, she was bouncing on her chair trying to see over the tabletop.

"You didn't deserve that. Your just kids."

"Where are you taking us?" She pressed, her eyes boring a hole into me.

"I can't tell you..." I began, but Iggy rolled his eyes.

"You will, right now. Otherwise I will break that window and we will be out of here. You will have no chance at catching us." Max's tone was low and threatening.

"I can't tell you where exactly." I said, trying to reason with her.

"What state." Fang asked simply. No emotion showed in his voice or eyes. It was impossible to tell if he was scared, happy, nervous or sick.

I sat quiet for a moment.

Max Pov:

My patience was gone; jeb didn't want to tell us anything. I didn't want to sit here in a loud, bright, people-filled building, but I did want food. I took a quick glance at Fang.

He was nervous. His face was calm and his eyes were dark and blank. His hands, resting on his lap under the table were clenched, the tendons on the backs of them looked like ropes. His knuckles were white.

I took a deep breath in, and let it out slowly.

"Tell us by the time we finish our food or your paying for the burgers and the window." I said slowly, trying to keep my impatience and anger from my voice. I must have failed miserably, because I saw Jeb wince and Fang relax.

Two minutes of silence later and our food arrived. Carried to our table by two waiters, who sat it down and cast questioning looks over their shoulders as they walked away.

"Five minutes guys." I said addressing the flock, then I peered over at angel. "speedy." I said smiling at her. Instantly they dug into their burgers like starving erasers. It was kinda nasty, but the burgers were great. Jeb's eyes went wide as he saw us snarf down our food.

Jeb Pov:

"you don't have a lot of time Jeb." Max said around a mouthful of burger. I glanced at Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy and finally Fang. Fang looked back at me with a blank expression, somehow he managed to chew a huge bite of burger without moving a muscle of his face. I shivered and moved my glance back to Max. She was staring at me, waiting for me to speak.

"Colorado." I said slowly. Iggy was slurping a glass of water with a straw, draining it in less than ten seconds. He stopped slurping and an eyebrow rose.

"Excuse me?" He began, leaning closer to Max, Fang and myself. "That's a big place. North, south could you be any more specific?"

"Umm, it's by a canyon?" I offered.

"So it has to be somewhere near grand canyon national park, or on the Colorado river itself. I can live with that." Iggy said cheerfully, waving his empty water glass, the straw swirling around in it.

Fang Pov:

I could almost hear Max thinking. Iggy wasn't stupid, he hadn't said that information for jeb's sake. He had been talking to us, telling us that the place in colorado could be real.

Of course that meant nothing at all. We didn't know if jeb was lying to us and using a real place to back the story. That's where I came in. I was our in-case-max's-plan-fails guy. So far I had the following scanario layed out. Max catchs Jeb in a lie. I jump onto the table, grab my chair and break the glass. Then I grab Angel, and Iggy's arm. We jump out of the window, Max follows with Nudge and Gazzy. We all run for it.

"Okay, we will come with you." Max says suddenly. I almost choke on my burger, but manage to keep from coughing. Beside Max I can see Iggy and Nudge, each tense and listening.

"No crates, we ride in seats like normal kids." Max continued, I snuck a glance at her out of the corner of my eye. She was sitting up straight, wearing that half smirk of superiority. She was stubborn and had the upper hand on this Jeb guy.

"Okay, anything else?" He asked, knowing he was beat.

"Yeah, Fang?" She asked looking over at me.

"Give me Angel." I said clamly, I hated the idea of Angel sitting next to a whitecoat. Jeb looked at me confused. There was a pause.

"Your serious?" He said slowly. On the other side of Max Iggy crossed his arms.

"He wouldn't have said it if he wasn't." Max stated slowly, her tone cold. It was the voice she reserved for ersaers and whitecoats. Full of anger and seriousness.

Jeb handed Angel over the table without another word. Angel looked up with those huge blue eyes and nuzzled into me.

"Anything else?" He asked slowly, Iggy smiled.

"We leave now." Max said in a harsh whisper. I could tell from her voice that this place was creeping her out. It was creeping all of us out, we were mutant bird kids who hadn't ever been outside the school in our young lives. Normal people were strange to us. Sterile, stainless steel examination tables, tiled labs, erasers that were half wolf-half human were normal. This place however was mindblowing.

Three minutes after that we were gone.

Max Pov:

It was weird to leave the truck stop. It felt good to be out of there, away from all the loud normal people, and the small portions of food.

But it was weird. It reminded me that we were not going back to the school, we were going to colorado. We had busted out of camp gloom-and-doom and were not going to be part of the real world. I had spent a lifetime in a cage, fighting erasers, kicking whitecoat butt and making smarty-mouth comments to the unfortunate guys who come to take my pulse or get a blood sample.

The real world was going to be a mindblowing, alkwardly unusual, change of pace.

_Hook me up a new evolution,__  
__'Cause this one is a lie_.

**A/N: questions? Comments (hopefully)? Concerns? You people can figure it out. Push that button and reveiw. Next chapter up as soon as I can finish typing it. Until then...**

**Peace, love and little voices in you head (you can pick between two, Edwards voice that shows up in Bella's head-from new moon. Or the annoyingly accurate and metaphorical voice from Max's head**


	3. radio

**A/N: Sorry it took so long for this to be posted. I'm doing several fics at once, and trying to keep them all straight. As stated before Patterson owns the characters, I claim the words. The idea goes to katie3llen, used with permission.**

**I know i have been skimping on the 'song' part of the songfic. I am working on that... But none-the-less i will be posting the whole song in the last chapter of this fic.**

**-twilightjunkie1313**

Max Pov:

The massive suv had been trudging across the empty, flat sand road for about a half hour. So far it had been dead silent, except for the occasional yawning of Angel. My muscles were tighter than wound springs. Every ounce of my body wanted to run away from the truck type thing and scream until i was deaf.

I didn't trust jeb. I didn't even know him. With a quick glance into the side view window I could see Fang. He did looked calm at first glance. But within a few seconds I could see his tightened jaw, the cold look in his eyes, he didn't like this any more than I did.

I turned in my seat to face the flock. Iggy was resting his head on the window, absorbing the vibrations and listening to the engine. His mouth a thin line. Angel sat in his lap, calm and groggy, the tranquilizers just wearing off. Nudge sat immediately behind him, her eyes bright with worry, locked on the landscape passing by. Next to her was Gazzy, looking more on edge than the rest of us. Hie hands were bunched into fists, his jaw tight.

Fabulous, the flock would die of heart attacks before jeb even got a chance to stab us in the back.

I smiled to myself at the irony, and saw Fang raise an eyebrow. It was a you-turst-this-guy? look mixed with a what-is-so-funny stare of contempt. Yeah, all of that can be thrown into a single look. That's Fang for you.

I shot back a cold stare, no I didn't trust this guy. But given the choice of him or the school I picked the more unknown of two evils. Back at school we would have been burned, run-to-death, chased by erasers, observed or possibly worse. Granted we knew nothing about Jeb, where he was taking us or what would happen once we got there we were still better off. The man had given us burgers and let me ride shotgun. Worst case scenario was he lied and the six of us (hybrids) beat down the scrawny human and run. Well five, Angel was way too young to help.

"Cheer up guys." I whispered, hopefully too low for Jeb to hear.

"How long?" Nudge asked, the shortest sentence she had ever uttered. I scanned the flat, empty landscape, seeing nothing I turned back to her.

"I have no idea hon."

"It's a ways off yet." Iggy added unexpectedly. Fang stared straight ahead, listening to Iggy, everybody else spun to face him.

"How far off?" I asked in a normal voice.

"Just settle in," Iggy said calmly a cross between a smile and a grimace flickered across his face.

"It will take a while, we have a lot of ground to cover."

Thank you Iggy. That little tidbit of information did nothing to boost morale. In fact it made up all more uncomfortable and twitchy. We all did our best to sit quietly. Sadly, i do not take well to spending lots of time in a small, cramped, quiet place with a person I didn't know taking me god-only-knows where.

I held out for about twenty minutes, then i cracked.

"So how long will it take us to get to Colorado?" I asked, staring at Jeb with laser-like intensity. His eyebrows furrowed, he snuck a look in the rear-view mirror. Behind him the flock was staring at various things, all of them were silent, on edge.

"At least ten hours, possibly twelve." I felt my jaw drop slightly. Behind me Fang was silent, but annoyance radiated off him, invisible to all but me. Iggy cursed to himself, the words sounding like a hiss.

(Still Max Pov:)

One hour and thirty minutes later...

Jeb was beginning to crack, the silence and the constant low pitched reving of the engine was grating his nerves like cheddar cheese. I had no pity for him. We had dealt with way worse, shock tests, drugs to affect our reflexes, running mazes and nearly being drowned...

So I had zero pity for a guy who can't handle sitting in a plushy car for a few hours.

"Do you want to listen to the radio?" He asked suddenly, glancing at the flock in the mirror.

Angel cocked her head.

Nudge sighed audibly.

Iggy rolled his eyes, I didn't know he could do that.

Gazzy shot Jeb a glare, but said nothing.

"Why." Fang said clearly, boredom and impassiveness coating the word. Jeb shook his head, clearly stunned that somebody, much less Fang, had answered the question. Jeb cast a glance at me, as if my opinion was required.

"Why." I repeated Fangs statement, using the same tone and vacant expression.

Fang Pov:

It was an ironic and almost sickening moment. Jeb, a white coat and an adult was having a hard time controlling us. We were six experiments who had never, until today, been exposed to the real world. He was one of the scientists who had basically run our lives...and now he was having trouble controlling us?

Ironic.

After our short and pointless exchange. Jeb turned on the radio, stopping on a station that wasn't static filled. The music was smooth, soft and somehow saddening. As i listened to the words i heard nothing but stories of lost hope and crushed dreams.

I cast a small glance at the rest of the flock, the music was affecting them too. Iggy had closed his eyes, his breathing shallow. Nudge had calmed and was staring blankly at the back of Iggy's seat, listening to the songs. Angel was asleep, curled up in Iggy's lap. Gazzy was asleep too, his head nestled up to the window. They all looked serene, calm. The stress of the school and our present situation had finally gotten to them. They did the only thing we knew how to escape it.

They slept, or in Iggy and Nudge's case entered something of a meditative state.

I wasn't relaxed at all, not even a little bit. The music sounded raw to me, like somebody crying in the middle of the night, hoping nobody else would hear them. It wasn't something that calmed me. It just added a strange sad aura to my anxiety.

How pleasant.

Max Pov:

The music had calmed the flock right down, kind of. The youngest two were asleep. Iggy was in a trance, the sad words of the song enveloping him. Nudge had blanked out, her gaze like an unfocused laser. Fang had rested his hands at his sides, appearing relaxed.

The radio changed songs, the last chords of the old one fading to silence a few moments before the new song begun.

This music was like a drug, an emotional drug without collateral damage. The songs had drowned their worry with something else. I pushed the music to the back of my mind, ignoring it and focusing on the blank landscape rushing by. The sky merging with the ground in the windshield.

I heard Fang whisper, his voice barely reaching me.

"Listen."

I re-focused on the radio, closing my eyes.

_Yeah, I'm looking to the sky to save me,__  
__Looking for a sign of life.__  
__Looking for something to help me burn out bright.__  
__I'm looking for a complication,__  
__Looking cause I'm tired of lyin'.__  
__Make my way back home when I learn to fly._

Fang Pov:

The song played on, sweeping max up in it.

In the school i had no idea why white coats made such a big deal about music. Now i knew why.

Songs had the ability to be so specific you forgot they were written for the masses. A single song can fit you so well you feel like it was your soul transferred into words.

I fixed my eyes on the empty space outside the window.

Max Pov:

The song, our situation. The flock acting like zombies, half dead from frayed nerves. It was staring to grate on me. Jeb sitting quietly, his indirect answers. I was trying not to scream from impatience and frustration.

_I'll give it all away if you give me one last try, try, try.__  
__We'll live happily ever trapped, if you just save my life.__  
__Run and tell the angels that everything's alright._

Nothing was alright. Everything had changed.

**A/N: there! i added more song into my songfic! I am so proud, gives self a cookie**

**anybody else want cookies?**

**you know what to do-review.**

**-twilightjunkie1313**


	4. House

**A/N: I am soo sorry for not posting anything sooner. No excuse for it I know, I know. Patterson owns the characters, and I get the plot. The song that this fic is based off of is called "learn to fly" by: The Foo Fighters. **

**-twilightjunkie1313**

Jeb Pov:

The last one hundred miles had been silent. About three hours ago we had stopped for food. Max and Iggy had enguaged in half hearted conversation. Iggy had convinced me to get a map of colorado. Nudge had spent ten minutes looking at it. Fang had said nothing.

Fang Pov:

The flock was slowly going absolutly bug nuts. The radio had provided a temprary haven from our boredom, along with the rest stops.

But still, we had spent way-way-way too many hours in the Suv. But with great boredom comes great inovation.

Max Pov:

This royally sucked. I was stuck in the front, the rest of the flock had switched seats. Angel, Nudge and Gazzy in the seats behind me, Fang and Iggy had taken the back.

They were looking at the map, they had been for the last hour. Iggy had muttered something undecipherable, but no sound had come from Fang. He was starting to creep me out, Fang talked sometimes, not often...but right now nothing.

Still, Iggy and Fang both had the oddest look on their faces. Like they had just beat the crud out of thirty erasers with their arms tied behind their backs.

What were they up to?

Fang Pov:

With the vauge clues Jeb the-wacko-white-coat let slip (at the threatening of Max) we had narrowed the location of our house down to a 75 by 75 mile chunck of land. And cross refrencing that information with the roadsigns we had seen in the last four hours we had come to one conclusion...

If our home was real, if Jeb the-demented-phyco wasn't lying to us, our house was two hours away.

Some small part of me wanted to trust him. I wanted something other than the school, the crates and the tests. I wanted someplace where I could be safer, free and with the people I cared about.

Still, each and every part of me screamed to run away. My instinct told me this was a bad situation, that this scientist couldn't be trusted. So I did the only thing I could...

I let Max make the call.

Max Pov:

The radio stations were getting fuzzy. It was a bad development as far as I was concerned.

No radio meant more boredom. That was just fanstastic...

"Ahem." Jeb cleared his throat, all of us locked our eyes on him in a second. He hadn't spoken since the rest stop, so whatever he was about to say must be important.

"We are almost there." He said with little cheerfulness. His tone was more informative, and less than happy. I guess being trapped in a car for umpteen hours would do that to you.

"What county?" Iggy asked suddenly from the back. I spun, surprised to hear him speak. My gaze raked over his face, finding honest curiosity. I looked at Fang...

He silently mouthed four words, enunciating them just enough for me to understand.

"_Could be a trap..."_

My adrenalin pulsed.

Fang Pov:

The 75 by 75 mile chunk of land sat on three counties. Greens county, Bear county and Sandstone county. If jeb didn't name one of these...he was a liar. And we were idiots.

From where I was sitting I could see the thought behind Max's eyes. She already had a plan, in case this turned out to be nothing more than a scientist, a whitecoat, feeding us another lie and leading us through another maze.

Max was probably ready to punch Jeb in the head, knock him unconsious and take the wheel of the suv. She would probably steer us off to the ditch and we would tie jeb up and leave him on the side of the road. Yeah, and the school had made flying pigs too. I shoved those thoughts out of my head and waited for jeb to answer.

I wanted this to be real, I wanted an out. Someplace better than a dog crate, and food that wasn't spiked with something or another.

"The house is about an hour and a half away." Jeb began. "If you see another car I want you all to duck down in the seats and hide."

"Why?" Max asked with a cold sharp tone. Her voice hid her fear and suspicion well, but there was a flash of emotion still present in her eyes.

"Nobody needs to see you, that is the point of hiding." Jeb said with an air of finality.

Without looking at her I could tell max was beyond upset. She had every right to be, the whitecoat had spoken to her as if she was four. True we were all young, but we were not stupid.

Max Pov:

One hour and thirty minutes from now this road trip would end. I cast a glance at Fang, an eyebrow raised questioningly. He looked at me, allowing half his mouth to twitch into a smile that lasted a second.

Jeb's story had held, Fang and Iggy believed him. For the moment I did too.

**(A/N: I would have cut this into two chapters but then they would both be short. So I am using creative lisence and adding a small time lapse here.)**

One hour and thirty minutes later...

Max Pov:

There it was. Our house, huge white and oddly shaped. The flock and Jeb stood about twent feet from the front door. Just staring at it. Fang was murmering a description of the building to an intent Iggy, who nodded and smiled.

"What's that on the roof?" Iggy asked suddenly. My eyes flew to the roof where an odd antenne stood straight up, pointing to the sky.

"Satalite radio and telivision link up, normally there is no reception out this far. So I piggy backed a statlite feed and added a receptor to the roof." Jeb explianed easily. I saw Fangs eyes blacken as we were remined again that Jeb was a scientist.

"Would you like to go inside now?" Jeb asked after a short pause. Gazzy nodded, Nudge began to whisper something quickly. The rest of us followed him in the door without a sound.

Fang Pov:

I had never been in a house before. None of us had, we lived, until very recently, in a lab. On the inside all of the walls were painted white, the ceiling was white and floors were wood. Real wood, like somebody had taken trees, cut them up and put them on the floor. I had never seen a wooden floor before, the school was all tile and linolium.

The halls were short and wide, with really tall ceilings. I led Iggy into what looked like a kitchen, with black cuboards and counters. The sink was white, the rest of the large boxlike objects were covered in wood. I watched Iggy run his hand along the counter.

"There is no stainless steel?" He said amazed and a bit unnerved.

"None, I thought you would hate it. So It's all wood and umm white, and black. But we can paint if you want to, I have some colors already." Jeb said suddenly from behind us.

Max Pov:

I skipped over the kitchen, there were too many people in it already. The kitchen itself could hold all seven of us easily but we mutants needed our space. Spending your early years in a dog crate can give a person severe cloustrophobia.

So I made my way to the living room, it was huge, white and had a singularly amazing feature. At the end of the room, filling an whole wall were four ginormous windows. They were the biggest windows I had ever seen. So clear and clean. It took me a moment to actually look through them.

And then I gasped.

Fang Pov:

I heard Max gasp and my instincts went on red alert. I strode past a space with a huge table and eight chairs. We were so stupid, why were we running around this place without checking for traps first?

I stopped as soon as I saw Max. In a second I checked her for blood or missing limbs, bone fractures and new bruises. Nothing, so I looked at her face, following her eyes to the wall.

Correction: It wasn't a wall, structurally it appeared to be a window, four massive windows conected by pieces of iorn too thin to hold them together.

Max Pov:

I was remotely aware of Fang gaping behind me. I knew that Iggy would be with him, and behind them both Jeb would be watching like a hawk. But for the moment all that mattered to me was the hole behind the window.

The canyon was our backyard, and this house seemed to be balenced carefully over the edge of it. From the window I could only see the opposite side and wall of the canyon, the grey, brown and cream colors had turned into coppery tones thanks to the sun.

Then Nudge burst into the room, Gazzy and Angel with her. Broken from our window induced trance we all turned to her to see what she had to say. Nudge always had something to say.

"There are a lot of empty rooms, like just a bed and some drawers. What's that about?" She said in a rush, her excitement speeding her words.

"You all have to pick bedrooms." Jeb said slowly, "I have my room already and an office. Aside from that you'll have to decide who sleeps where."

Fang Pov:

It took us almost no time to chose rooms. After sleeping in crates we were not too picky about where or how we sleep. Max, Iggy and I got larger rooms, Gazzy had one closest to the bathroom and Nudge picked a spot across the hall from Angel.

I sat in my room, looking out one of several windows. Max came in quietly, cleared her throat and sat down on the matress. Aside from the dresser it was the only piece of furniture in the white room, my white room.

"So what color are you going for?" Max asked suddenly, I turned my head, looking over my sholder to see her.

"What do you mean?" I asked slightly confused. I hadn't expected her to be so relaxed about this. I glanced at her face, tight jaw muscle and white knuckles. She wasn't calm at all, just putting up a good front. I said nothing, waiting for her to shift back into reality. She didn't have to pretend for me, or Iggy, we all knew how odd this was.

"So strange." I began.

"how?"

"Aside from us trusting a whitecoat, being hijacked from the school and living in a house with windows the size of doors?"

"Sorry." She whispered quickly.

"About what?" I asked, not quite knowing what she meant.

"If this is a mistake, if it all goes wrong...I am sorry." She explained quietly. I crossed the room and sat next to her.

"And if it's not?" I countered.

"We don't know that, it was a huge risk to do this. What if I was wrong? What if he is just as bad as they are, and it's all a big test...a lie?" Her sentence dropped.

"Maximum," I said and she raised her head, turning it to look at me.

"I trust you."

She smiled a little, and stood up, somehow sensing there was no more left to say. She opened the door silently, and was half way through it when I remembered something.

"Black." I said quickly. Her eyebrow rose a little.

"The color I would paint this place." I explained, a smile spreading slowly across her face. She left the room, the door closing silently behind her.

Max Pov:

The flock settled into their rooms. Jeb had left us all to our own devices. Thankfully.

Honestly i needed my space, this house was on the boarder between the ground, the sky and all the things we had left behind us. This was to be our home, as long as we lay low and stay out of sight.

So why did it feel like a prision? The four walls of my new room felt like an extension of the crates in the school. It felt like a prision because it was a prision, diffrent walls, same feeling.

I heard the slight knock on my door, and a moment later Iggy appeared at my side. Somehow finding his way to the bed without haveing been in here before.

Iggy Pov:

She was stressed. Concerned, fighting. I understood it, the feeling that we had exchanged one form of confinement for another. We had.

"Relax max." I muttered, knowing she could hear me.

"Why? I just told Fang that this could be the biggest mistake I have ever..." I glared at her, arranging my face into a look that made her go silent.

"Than Fang already told you you made the right choice."

"But what if i was wrong?" She protested, speaking more to herself then me.

"There is no turning back. I trust you max, all of us do. We'd follow you, no matter what."

She didn't reply to my statement, she didn't seem to breath or move. So I stood and walked out of her room. Maximum was having regrets...

And it was too late to do anything about it.

Jeb Pov:

(LATER THAT DAY)

The flock was doing well. They had managed to negotioate the huge house, and each had found a room to settle into. I found their room selections to be most telling.

Fang had selected the room with the most windows. It was the second largest room of the six. He had enetered it quietly and closed the door behind him. As anti-social as he had appeared to be at the labratory he surprised me by not refusing anyone who knocked on his door. Max, Iggy and Nudge had visited him.

Of curse Iggy had visited everyone. He had selected his room the fastest, picking one with the highest celing and a few windows. His room was right in the center of the hall, on one side was Gazzy's room, the other Nudge's. Iggy had surprised me the most, even compared to Fang, by checking on each of the five other flock members. He seemed to have accepted the remoteness and finiteness of the situation. Not so with everyone else.

I stood in my room, the third largest room in the house (counting the living rom and kitchen/dining room combonation.) This was a big risk, taking the flock here. Removing them from the lifestyle they had been forced to accept. But not taking them would have been much worse...so much worse.

As is they were skiddish and withdrawn. Gazzy had flinched more than once in the car during a loud section of a song, or when a semi would honk loudly. Fang hadn't said a word to anyone other than Max or Iggy. He had been that way for most of his life, from what i could tell.

I turned away from the windows that formed one entire wall. On the other side of the room stood a filing cabinet, filled with files of the flock. The files were copies I had made and brought here for safekeeping. If i showed them to the flock now...they wouldn't trust me. Not ever.

Someday I would have to tell them about those files. They deserved to know that their suspicions of me were not unfounded.

But not today, and with any luck not soon.

**A/N: Hope you like it. I am on vacation for two weeks (gasp!) and have been kicking myself for not posting something. So i give you this.**

**enjoy it...**

**-twilightjunkie1313**


	5. Sleep

**A/N: I don't own Maximum ride. I can't even claim this as an original story idea. I was written as a challenge fic-and has grown into something more time consuming.**

**None the less, i like it. The words are my own, the feelings my own. Enjoy it.**

**-Twilightjunkie1313**

Fang Pov:

It was late, the sun had already vanished. The canyon looked like a massive black hole with shades of dark grey striping.

But i couldn't sleep, and from the slight sounds coming from the others rooms-nobody else could either.

Max Pov:

It was way dark when i heard a knock at my door. I half expected jeb to just come in, and stick a seringe in my arm. But i got up to answer the door anyway.

It was Fang. He looked tired and on edge, like he had just run for five hours and collapsed on the ground. I stared at him as he shuffled into my room without making a sound.

He sat down on the floor under a window, leaning his back against the wall, hs eyes trained on me. Waiting for me to say something.

"You too?" i said limply. it wasn't a question, but an observation.

He nodded.

"This feels so odd. like a mini-prision." I heard the slight hysterical tone in my voice and didn't doubt he caught it too.

"Try and relax." He said simply, his expression unchanged. I sat down on the floor, in the middle of my room, five feet or so from him.

The look i shot back was uncomprehending.

"You don't have to like this." He began carefuly. "I don't."

"Do you think I made a bad choice?"

"No." He said it in a no questions sort of way. Like he was absolutly sure.

"But?" I began, knowing there was more to this.

"You shouldn't let your gaurd down, not for a second."

Another knock. Fangs eyes shot to the door like lasers.

"Come in." I said quietly, instantly the handle turned and iggy's head poked into the gap.

Iggy shuffled into my room just as silently as Fang had. He sat down on my bed, and then, ralizing it was empty lay down on his stomach.

"Comfy?" I asked sarcasticly. Iggy shook his head, the smile gone.

"Can't sleep here." He began, "I know it's better than a crate but it seems so new."

"We know." I answered him quickly, repressing a yawn.

"We?"

I glanced at Fang. His face was still blank.

"Am i not here?" Fang asked slowly.

"You are quiet- i didn't hear you." Iggy sounded stunned.

Another knock, this time Iggy swung his head toward the door before the sound came. Nudge didn't bother waiting for me to open the door, she just slid in-silently as the boys had.

Behind her was gazzy, sleepy and nervous looking. In her arms, angel. I looked around for a place to set the sleeping angel, and put gazzy. He looked dead on his feet.

"Iggy move left a foot, and share the blankets." I said in a sharp whisper. He did, and i settled angel in then lifted gazzy into iggy's lap.

Nudge settled with her back against my dresser. At least that's what i thought it was.

In truth i had no idea what this was...this whole situation. Judging from my bleary eyed (except for Fang) companions they were all new to this as well.

"What are we going to do?" Nudge managed to whisper. I sat back down on the floor, against another wall, halfway between Fang and Nudge.

"Nothing." Fang answered resolutly.

"But we have to do something!" Nudge's voice was building, i could sense her frustration and anxiety. Iggy's head lowered, sadly it seemed.

"No we don't." Fang said evenly. Iggy looked toward him.

"But..." Nudge was winding up her defense, she wanted to go, to run and be out of this place.

"We stay. We keep our guard up. This is better than the school, and you know it." His voice got a deadly cold edge, but only for a moment.

"He hasn't lied, not yet." Iggy began. "He could have, he could have told us anything to get us out of there, but he told us the truth."

"No." Nudge said simply. I could see it in her eyes, jeb was a scientist. She couldn't trust him, and neither could we. But i wouldn't let this turn into a fight. Not now.

I sighed. In a second Fang's eyes were locked on me, iggy's head was turned and Nudge fell silent.

"We stay, for now. Like Fang said. If something happens, if he lies, or somebody shows up, we leave. Drop everything and bolt for it. Iggy will take gazzy, and i'll get angel."

Fang Pov:

She weighed every word carefully, i watched her. She had to, it was our escape plan. She wouldn't repeat it, and she wouldn't have to. Each of us learned, in the hellhole of a school, that something said only once is more important than something said a dozen times. Thanks to our special modifications, we could remember most things word for word.

I tried to push memories of the school from my mind. But there was nothing to fight them with. No replacement memories of better days, no mantra to repeat over and over until the images went away.

I had a handful of memores from a place i didn't belong in. I looked around Max's room. Nudge was leaning sleepily against her dresser. I had learned, from inspection of my own room, that the dresser had a few spare blankets in it. The similarities between this place and the school made me sick. The monotone, identically furnished rooms were bigger versions of our crates. Theonly real improvement was the windows. Somehow that made all the diffrence.

Iggy Pov:

It was quiet for a long time. Nothing but the sound of rythmic breathing and nervous shifting.

"We need to make this ours." Gazzy said suddenly. I looked at him, feeling everyone else doing the same.

"How?" Max asked slowly. Her voice was soft but present, like heat from embers. Comforting, but able to burn.

"We need something that is just ours." Nudge mused aloud. "Something only we do with eachother...just us."

"Like a handshake?" I said outloud, remembering Fang's description of two men greeting each other at the truckstop. There was a silence.

"There were these two guys. They knew eachother, and as a greeting, I guess...they shook hands." I heard Fang's neutral voice explain quickly.

"We need something more us." Nudge muttered. I heard a mumble of agreement from Max.

"Fists." Came a voice, it took me a moent to know it was Fang's.

There was a quiet.

We were fighters, at heart. After living through the school it was something engraned into each of us. It was something that could never be taken away. Fists made sense.

"A stack." I said easily, thinking out loud.

"Perfect." Max agreed.

So there in max's cell-like bedroom we stacked fists. I felt my hand along the five arms and fingers. They felt intertwined, like a giant knot. Then i added my own hand to the stack. I felt a small hand brushing mine, then another, and another.

I realized after the hands pulled away that we would never stop doing that. No matter how far away from here we were, or how old we grew up to be. It was something that was ours, and nobody else's. It was just as Max has said it was...perfect.

Max Pov:

It was late. The hand on the clock has moved a few numbers, though i didn't know how to read it. I guessed it was about one in the morning, maybe later. The flock was asleep, and Fang was awake. Staring at me, his eyes dead in thought.

We hadn't said a word to each other since Iggy went to sleep. I glanced at each of them in turn, Nudge on some spare blankets, curled up. Iggy, Gazzy and Angel curled onto the bed. Fang mirroring my position, knees by his sholders, curled up but still sitting. Arms wrapped around his legs.

"They're asleep." He said simply. Moving his eyes over each body in turn.

"Yes."

"It's odd." He began suddenly.

I raised an eyebrow. Something he said popping into my mind. I had questions, regrets.

"You said you don't like this." I began, "Why?"

He stared at me for a while, thinking.

"The same reasons you don't."

Fang Pov:

Eventually Max nodded off. And i was left with my memories.

The countless hours i spent doubled over, holding my stomach and dry heaving in my cage. The I.V's that were pushed into my arms. The mazes to test reflexes and agility, full of each new recombant the school made. The hundreds of burns and bruises that each of us were covered in. Iggy's sobs as he was led back into his crate, blind after an experimental surgery. They had to all but carry him back, throw him in the crate. For weeks afterwards i had nightmares, where i could hear iggy's voice screaming.

Eventually i fell asleep against the wall. The I.V marks and fres bruises were still there, on y skin. But that night the nightmares never came.

And for that i was thankful, because here may have been strange and new.

But it was nothing like what we had left behind.

**-Twilightjunkie1313**


	6. lessons

_**A/N: I am truely sorry for those of you who waited so long for this chapter. **_**I hope that it is worth it. I dedicate this chapter to Katie3llen (even though you changed your name your still katie3llen to me.) My best friend edwardlover1313, and my polar opposite (he knows who he is.) **

**-twilightjunkie1313**

_"I'm looking to the sky to save me..."-Foo fighters 'Learn to fly'_

Fang Pov:

It was godawful early when Max barged into my room. Sunlight hadn't even begun to sneak under my blackout curtains.

"Get up!" She said hurridly.

Any other morning i would have told her to let me be, that i knew when to get up. Actually that sounded like an excellent idea.

"Go jump off a cliff." I managed to mutter with the perfect amount of sarcasm. I had already gone to my dresser and was fishing for a black shirt.

"Exsactly." She shot back, the grin in her voice was obvious. Then in a flash she was gone.

Okay, that was odd. Even for Max.

I scanned my room quickly, wanting to follow Max. I still needed to get dressed, i needed a belt. Without even looking i plunged my hand into the top drawer and by some miracle pulled out a belt.

I walked into the hall, nearly hitting Iggy. Who looked slightly confused but fully awake. We still hadn't developed normal, sound sleeping habits. It had been weeks, and i suspected we wouldn't ever sleep properly.

"What's she happy about?" Iggy asked in a loud whisper. I shrugged.

"No idea."

When we arrived in the main part of the house Gazzy was putting orange juice in front of a semi-consious Nudge. Angel was sitting quietly in a chair, an empty glass in front of her. Jeb and Max buzzed in the kitchen.

"Do i sense a power breakfast?" Iggy muttered sarcasticly. Jeb heard him, and came to the dining table. Max shot him a softish glare, if a glare can be soft.

We sat at the table, it was an alkward arrangment. Jeb sat at one end, Max on his right, me at his left, Iggy next to me. Nudge sat on Max's other side, looking less sleepy than before. Gazzy and Angel sort of crowded at the other end.

It was quiet for about a minute.

One amazingly tense minute. I could read the excitment and fear in Max's eyes. Iggy was tensing up, and Nudge must have felt the energy- she was wide awake now.

Max Pov:

Fang dosen't like secrets, or surpsises. It's something that happens to you after getting 'surprised' by a new drug cocktail, or a burn test every day for about ten years. So it made sense that he was the one to ask questions.

"What is this about?" Fang's voice was calm, but his eyes had a cold glint. He tried to stare the answers out of me- lift them from my head- but i didn't know.

Jeb was grinning like a maniac.

So we weren't going to be tourtured, and nobody had found us. That was a good start.

"We, well you, are going to learn to fly." He answered slowly.

"Didn't we try that?" Iggy asked casually. In half a second Fang and I locked eyes. No, jumping off the house and almost breaking an arm did not count.

"No." Fang replied so casually that i almost beleived him, and i was there when we did the reckless little experiment.

"Jumping off the roof dosen't count." Jeb said easily. Iggy's mouth hung open a little.

"How did you know?" He asked suddenly.

"How could i not? You four make a whole bunch of noise, Iggy asks for a ladder. I heard footsteps on the roof, and Max complains that her arm hurts ten minutes later."

For a really smart kid Iggy looked very confused.

I felt stupid.

Fang just stared back at Jeb.

"So what are you going to have us try?" Fang asked, his eyes looked shallow and cold. He was tensing up, his shoulder muscles getting tighter. I started to get nervous, if Fang was anxious then something was wrong.

Silence. Six sets of eyes focused on Jeb.

"You were not getting enough altitude, the space between the launch and landing has to be bigger." He explained.

Fang cut him off with a glare. Iggy raised an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about?" I said sharply, we had found the tallest place we could next to-

"The canyon." Iggy whispered aloud.

Fang looked at me.

"No. Way." He said icily.

"We can't." I looked at Jeb and Nudge, i was not going to launch myself off a canyon. And neither would they. Jeb was being mental- we could not possibly do that without-

"We'll get ourselves killed." Iggy muttered loudly.

That effectivly shut everyone up.

"No you won't." Jeb defended slowly. He was pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket, laying it flat on the table.

"Explain it." I said slowly. I could feel Fang's eyes boring into my head, and Iggy's doubt flooding the room. Jeb began to push the paper towards me. I shook my head.

Iggy's Pov:

"No." I heard Max whisper. I didn't get it- she had just asked for the explination- and now she didn't want it?

Then i heard the paper rustle again, felt it poke my fingers. Without really thinking i grabbed the paper. Fang hand's gently oriented the paper, so it was right side up.

"Explain it to him." Max said gently.

"Okay." I heard jeb's voice shake a little, and imagined the glare Max was giving him.

I closed my eyes, to help me think. There was nothing but the sound of jeb's voice, and the flocks breathing.

"You didn't get enough altitude using the roof." Jeb began.

I nodded- i had already figured that out.

"But that roof is the tallest useable point for miles..."

"Except for the canyon." I intertupted.

"Yes, except for the canyon." Jeb cleared his throat.

"And?" I asked.

"I did the math, the concept is in front of you. You'd have the nessecary altitude and volocity." He stopped.

"I don't know if you did the math- I can't see it." I reminded him coldly.

"I need to talk it over." I said slowly, looking at the place where Max sat.

"Okay." He said easily.

"Where would you have us jump from?" I asked casually.

There was a pause.

"A section a mile east of the house, the canyon face is almost vertical." Jeb replied carefully.

Fang Pov:

Two minutes after that we were all in Max's room. Max stood next to one wall, Iggy sat on the bed with Angel, Nudge and Gazzy sat on the floor. Tension radiated off us. All eyes fixed on Iggy.

Except for mine. I was watching Max.

Sure, Iggy would tell us- to the best of his ability- if he thought this could work. But it was Max who would decide weather or not we would.

"What do you think Iggy?" I asked him calmly, he was staring at the paper. Trying to read it, see the words and numbers printed on it, even though he couldn't.

"I don't know. It's a logical idea- the higher the jump point the longer we have to get enough lift."

"But?" I could hear the worry in Max's voice. Iggy nodded, knowing what she was thinking, what i knew already.

"We could die if the drop is too high. I know our bodies heal faster, but even we can't take a fall like that without damage." He explained grimly.

Max Pov:

Fang was leaning against my wall, acting like this wasn't affecting him. But hearing Iggy say it- that we could die- did something to me. It wasn't as if we hadn't been near death before.

But this time, for the first time, we could chose to avoid it. We could opt out, and not jump, not risk falling to our deaths.

A part of me was screaming that this was stupid, and idiotic. It was common sense to not jump off canyon sides, just like it's common sense to flinch before someone hits you. But a small part of me really wanted to try. I wanted to know how it would feel to be alone and falling through the air, then flying high above the ground. I didn't know why exsactly, if Jeb had told me i had to jump, i would fight with everything i had not to.

But right now i had to know if i could fly.

"I'll do it." I said loud enough for them all to hear. But quietly enough so that Jeb couldn't hold me to it.

Fang Pov:

"You'll what?" Iggy stuttered, getting to his feet and grabbing Max's arms.

"I'll try first." She said slowly, more quietly than before. There was something odd in her eyes. An emotion i couldn't place.

"If i don't get it you and Fang are in charge." She said simply. That was it, no more decussion. Iggy and the rest filed out of her room silently.

She turned to me, waiting.

"Why?" I asked simply, my tone flat and dead.

"Why what?" She shot back.

"Why jump?"

Without a word she threw out her wings, speckled with tan and white, shaded by brown. She stood there for a moment, staring at me. Her eyes cold.

"Why not?" The answer was a whisper so quiet that Iggy would have to strain to hear it.

She had to, a force inside her needed to know if she could do it. No matter what Iggy said, nothing would stop her from trying. Not after she decided she could.

I know this because i felt it too.

Iggy Pov:

Nobody really slept well that night. Dinner was a quiet alkward time. I heard plates and cups clattering, but no voices. The tense feeling was a blanket that settled on us, not going away.

I had a terrible dream. In it Max jumped and when she unfurled her wings they were bloody, severed stumps. I heard her scream before i woke up. I didn't see her hit the bottom. I didn't have to to know she would die there in my dream. I felt it.

Fang woke me up. I was thankful it wasn't Max. Max would have said something about the cold sweat on my face or the way i had leavered into a sitting position with a slight yell. Fang didn't, but he noticed all those things.

Max Pov:

The flock assembled loosely. Standing around the table they were unusually quiet. I looked them each over as jeb began to pull cereal and bowls from the cuboards. Iggy was leaning against the counter, face paler than normal. The muscles around his mouth were drawn tight, he was afraid. I moved to the next face. Gazzy's, almost a mirror image of Iggy's expression. I blinked hard and looked to Nudge, she had a vacant look in her eyes. I cringed internally and glanced at Fang. He was standing next to the kitchen window, staring out into the canyon. His sholders were tight, from fifty feet away anyone could tell he was nervous.

There was a clap, and we looked around, broken from our thoughts.

Jeb stood at the counter looking at us with a fake smile. He motioned to the cereal and the bowls that were now placed on the counter. One by one the flock began to serve themselves and eat. It was silent.

I stared into my fruitloops, or whatever they were. I ate a bowl and then, not really feeling like sitting in my room, I ate a second bowl. Jeb said nothing, he was smart enought to know not to speak.

Fang Pov:

When I finished i looked around, Max was on her second bowl, Iggy was sitting blankly at the table. I felt my stomach churn, the cereal and anxiety mixing unconfortably. I went back to my room. The door didn't close behind me, and i knew, somehow that Max was there.

I sat on my bed and watched the floor, hearing her pace. I waited knowing she wanted to speak or be faught with. Then she stopped, and stood i front of me. I looked up.

That was when i noticed the lines under her eyes and the paleness beneath her skin. I could feel her nervousness and see the tendons in her wrists.

"Are you okay?" I asked pointlessly, i knew she wouldn't answer unless she wanted to.

"Are any of us?" She shot back. Instantly I understood, she was scared for them.

"But are you?" I stared at her, she stared back unblinking.

"It dosen't matter." She said in an even voice.

"The hell it dosen't." I began quickly, standing now. "What was the 'if i don't get it your in charge Fang' all about then?" She didn't breath for a minute.

There was a knock at the door. Iggy came in and his eyes widened, as if he just figured out what we were doing.

"All ready?" He asked quickly. I looked at Max, she didn't meet my gaze.

"Yes." She said, it was the most convincing lie i had ever heard.

Iggy Pov:

It was a short quiet hike. I held onto Fang's beltloop, but other than the sounds of footsteps it was as if i was alone. After what felt like hours we stopped. Fang turned to me and began to explain the scenery.

It was a sheer drop off the edge of the canyon. The canyon lip itself was bare, a few trees growing maybe thirty feet away from the edge. Jeb's footsteps came to us.

Max Pov:

We formed a scraggly circle around Jeb. The knots in my stomach larger than before.

"It's simple, just run and jump. Push out then down, and you'll be okay." He looked around.

"Who's first?" He asked as his eyes skipped over our faces.

"I'll go." Fang said suddenly.

Fang Pov:

The flock moved back, standing in a line, waiting. I walked away from the canyon a few paces. I felt my sholders tighten up, by lungs fill with air. My mind flashed over how stupid this plan was, run off the edge of the cliff and flap. But i didn't worry.

It was as if i lost control and my body took over. I ran, fast and hard at the lip of the canyon. I jumped as i took my last step, feeling my body rise and then begin to fall. I threw out my wings and pushed down, the air filling them up.

I closed my eyes, the wind rushing in my ears.

Max Pov:

As soon as Fang was in the air I walked to the place he had stood for take off. My worries were all gone, the fear that we would become pancakes on the canyon floor evaporated.

I let my lungs fill up with air and then i ran all out at the canyon edge. I closed my eyes as i jumped off, freefalling for a second.

Then i pushed down hard and rose, slowly, to meet Fang in the air.

Iggy Pov:

I could feel that Max and Fang were not on the ground. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, as if a bird would attack me from the sky. It was the same feeling i had gotten in the school a million times over. Then it vanished, and i heard Nudge next to me.

"I'll walk you to the right place. Run for about thirty feet, jump as high as you can and then flap." She said solftly as she pulled my hand, guiding me to the runway.

"Then?" I whispered quickly. I felt her let go of me and turn my body slightly.

"That's up to you." She said slowly, i heard her footsteps quiet. She was gone, watching with Gazzy and Jeb.

I closed my eyes and felt the world, the wind and the sky. In my mind it was the most brilliant shade of blue, stretching forever over the horizion. I pulled my wings in tight, to reduce drag.

Then i ran, blindly but surely to the canyon's edge. I jumped and didn't feel my wings snap open, i didn't feel them push the air. It was as if i was just floating in the current, better than i could have imagined. Like i was born to do this and nothing else.


	7. Mourn

**A/N: For those of you who have waited on this...i bow to your patience. And i thank you for it. This has been a labor of love and chaos. Many thanks to those who helped me (you know whom you are) and as always this idea was not my own. (Thanks to kati3llen, whom let me borrow it.) I have a few more chapters to go before I can properly end this.**

**enjoy-twilightjunkie1313**

Fang Pov:

_I remember the day he left. I don't remember how much time has passed since we knew he was gone, right now that doesn't really matter. He's not coming back._

I woke up to find the house quiet and still. It felt odd, normally the house was full of energy and chaos. But that second it was silent.

I walked down the short hall, peeking through cracked doors, checking on the flock. All of them were asleep, except Max. Iggy looked out for the count, so i assumed no breakfast for a while. Fine by me, I'd do something else.

I stalked into the living room and slid into the large white sofa, fished for the remote and turned to some educational show. It felt to good to have the couch to myself. I wandered where Max was. She wasn't in here, or in her room, or in the kitchen.

I felt the hairs on tha back of my neck stand up.

In an instant i stood, spun and crouched slightly. I glanced around, trying to find what put me on edge. The door to jeb's room was cracked. I moved toward it, wondering why it was ajar. He always left it all the way open or completly closed.

Then i heard a sound.

I froze, my arm outstretched toward the doornob. It was like someone was crying, there were words, muttered to quietly for me to hear. It took a while for me to understand that the sounds were not from a man. They were from a girl.

I pushed open the door.

Max sat on jeb's bed. Her head resting on her knees, drawn up close to her chest. She was shaking, and fragile looking. I sensed that this was something I was not supposed to see. I stepped closer, and sensing me, Max looked up. In her eyes there was hurt, fear, confusion, greif and anger.

"He's gone." She whispered. The way she said it, in her broken un-composed voice made me beleive it was true. I wouldn't ask her if she was sure, I wouldn't ask her how long she had been sitting there. I unconsiously walked over to the bed, grabbed her hand and gently pulled her up.

She didn't fight it.

I managed to pull her to her feet, placing my hands on her sholders. She stare back at me, a slight energy in her eyes, an anger I couldn't place.

"They are not awake yet." I said slowly. She nodded, understanding that she had more time to grive.

"But they will be soon." I hoped she would be calm by then. She looked okay right now. That was the beauty behind Maximum, she could be unstable one moment and appear fine the next. I had learned long ago that her eyes gave her away. They looked hectic and scared right now.

There was a loud crash and we both froze. I turned slightly, hoping it was him, ready to kill him for scaring Max and leaving us...but Iggy appeared instead.

Max gasped and simultaniously Iggy froze.

"Iggy shut the door." I said calmly. He did, and then moved closer.

"What's going on?" His demeanor had switched to serious and concerned. I swallowed hard, fighting back the sinking feeling in my stomach.

"Jeb's gone." She said it so quietly that i hardly heard but somehow Iggy did.

Iggy soundlessly stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Max. As he did this I slid away from them, becoming an observer of their greiving. I slid over to the wall as they cried in silence, their bodies shaking as if their very souls were leaving them. The whole house was still.

I just stood in the shadows, watching them mourn the only father we had known. It was like someone had flooded my blood with ice, numbed my senses so much i could not feel, even if i wanted to.

Then there was a sound. It was loud and abrasive. I recognized it as footsteps, coming closer. I went to the doorway and slid out into the hall, not seeing anything, just hearing that one sound. I was in the living room in seconds.

_"Fang?"_

_"Fang?"_

_"Fang, are you okay?"_

I looked around, the room coming into focus. Nudge was looking over the back of the couch. I realized she had been calling me. I felt something wrap around my leg. I looked down and saw Angel. I didn't know how she had gotten there.

"Fang? Is everything okay?" Nudge spoke again. I didn't think, i just lied.

"Fine." But my voice didn't stay even and blank. It cracked and the words were lost.

Nudge stood, worry plain on her face. I didn't want her pity, I didn't need her concern. Adrenalin began to flood my blood. I stepped back from Angel, my body going into a slight crouch. Nudge's face went pale.

At once all the emotions I should have been feeling, anger, loss, hurt, confusion, fear and betrayal came rushing into me. I needed out, now, i felt dizzy.

"Leave me alone." I said with a cold fury that seemed to come from nowhere. I felt like i was going to scream, explode from emotion. I stalked to my room in a few quick strides and slammed the door, so hard the walls shook.

Then, only when i was sure no one could see me, I fell apart.

I thought of Max, crying on his bed. I thought if Iggy, Angel, Nudge and Gazzy, the trust he betrayed. I began to picture the thousands of memories i could have shared with him. He could have been a father to me. But now he was gone.

I tipped my dresser over in front of my door, it made a huge crashing sound. I jerked open the drawers and began taking everything out, throwing it all on the floor. I didn't want this stuff to remind me of him. After each drawer was empty i pulled my matress into the center of the floor, and pushed the frame into the growing pile.

I wasn't done, but now there was a pounding on my door. I didn't care, until I had destroyed everything that lying bastard had given me, i would not come out. I hear voices and moved faster, the whole room had to be a wreck before I was done, his place had to look the way i felt. If he came back i wanted him to know what he did to me.

I ripped the painted black doors off my closet. Then I dumped the box of outdoor equipment he had given me into the pile. I heard a noise like breaking glass and i smiled slightly. It felt good to break this, and i turned to the walls.

The walls we had painted together.

I scrathed at them with my fingernails until i felt my nails tear away and start to bleed. I kept going, tearing harder now, because the black was being covered by red...

Then there was a crash, I heard yelling. Hands dragged me away from the wall, to the floor. I heard distinct voices now, Max ordering everyone to get out. Part of me struggled against her grasp, the rest of me was calm.

The struggling part won out over the rest.

I pulled away from Max's grip. I stood shakily next to my pile of possesions and ran a hand through my hair. She stood and walked to my door, closing it and turning to face me.

In that moment we didn't speak. I stared and she stared back. We understood that we were two people who were broken, that we expressed grief in different ways and at diffrent times, but in the end it was the same grief.

She left eventually, without a word or gesture. I closed the curtains, the only thing left unharmed, and let the blackness take me down.

Iggy Pov:

Of all of us Fang had the hardest time. He became quiet and distant. Max told me once that he looked like the angel of death, pale, haunted and sad. It was in that second i was thankful for my blindness. I didn't have to see the pain in his eyes. I only heard his quiet footsteps and felt a prickle on the back of my neck when he was near. To me, it was like living with a ghost.

Nudge was different, Fang's polar opposite. She would fill the alkward silences with words. She spent more time in the open, to keep from being alone in her room. When she was alone she would turn up the T.V. She would be the last awake, staying up until nearly all of us were asleep, making sure we hadn't flown out through our windows never to return.

The youngest, Angel seemed more affected by our greif than Jeb's departure. She would sit quietly next to us on the couch, calmly watching our forced togetherness and silences. Still, she slept restlessly, tossing, turning and sometimes wimpering.

Gazzy made an attempt to spend quality time with all of us. It was his nature. He wasn't afraid to break the fragile silence to ask me a question. He would sit with Nudge in the mornings and even sleep on the couch some afternoons to keep her company. It was odd, but somehow comforting and safe.

Max was different than all of us. I thought she would fall apart the first day. I thought she would never stop crying after i found her in Jeb's room. It was my mistake, she was stronger than i gave her credit for, she was Maximum, after all. Our born leader. Still there were days i woke to her quiet sobs, days where she stared blankly at the T.V. even if it was off.

As for me, i did what the blind do best. I listened. I listened to my family as we tried to pick us the pieces and recover from the past. I experienced my own pain, i thanked whatever's out there that i had them to help me. I felt them change, Fang spoke more, Max cracked jokes, Nudge flew alone and Angel smiled. I listened less and did more, learned to cook, pirated cable and satilie onto our T.V, sometimes I fly with Nudge.

I do listen, when nobody thinks i hear, or when the night is so still your heartbeat makes a sound. Sometimes i still see the scars that he left on us. When Fang sits quietly through a watch, when Max stares blankly into the stars. I know they are thinking of him.

He was our father after all.


	8. Home

**A/N: I do not own much of this. The idea was a challenge from Katie3llen (who has changed her name, but remains my friend.) The characters are Patterson's. The Song this was based off of is from the foo fighters (learn to fly) the motivation came from ruby1792 and my friend edwardlover1313. This last chapter is dedicated to you, my patient readers.**

Max Pov:

Time changes things. It has made us age, I am now seventeen, Nudge is fourteen, Angel is nine and Gazzy is eleven. Ari is dead, Jeb is my real father, I have a sister, related by blood. We have all fond our families, both metaphoricly and litrally. We have come back home.

That, over everything else, is the hardest to deal with.

This place in the middle of nowhere is full of memories. It cuts open our scars if we're not careful, if we don't pay attention. But it is home.

I remember when we first came back, Fang and Iggy made me stand outside thirty feet from the house so they cound run a search and make sure it was clean. I didn't care if it was occupied by erasers, snakes and worms, it was my home.

Eventually they did let me come in, that was hard. It was quiet the first few days as we got used to the feel of the floors, furniture and our own beds. We kept Jeb's room closed, none of us were ready to re-visit that memory yet.

We dusted the cobwebs away, cleaned the windows, Gazzy and Iggy baught a camera online. They used it to take pictures of the flock, which they framed and hung on the walls. Fang updates his blog from the kictchen table at five in the morning, before anyone but me is awake. I came to recognize that this was how we moved on, by imprinting ourselves on this place, by trying to live our lives normally, the way we did when we were first here.

Fang Pov:

It didn't take therapy, or drugs or a speech to make us go back to normal. We could never get back to normal, we all knew that. So we tried to get past it all, itex, death, pain.

We came home. It was the only thing we wanted to do after the showdown in germany, and I am glad we made it back here. We belong here.

I never knew that this place meant so much, to all of us. But it does, I could feel it when I first walked in the door. All the memories I never had time for, the happy seconds I thought I would never get back, the illusion of saftey- it was here.

This place held our hummanity.

I spent a good week and a half repainting my room, it was hard to walk in and see the paint stripped half off the walls, knowing I was the one who tried to tear it off. Just seeing my room in the state of chaos I had thrown it in, hoping it could be as broken as I was that day. It made me feel the pain fresh again.

There is a brilliant black and white mural now, my bed is black and my closet door is white. I have blackout curtains that make this room darker than clalligraphy ink, no matter the time of day.

I update the blog, keep the movment alive, help it grow. It isn't my fight anymore, I am done fighting. The ironic thing was I never started out fighting for a cause, I just faught for me and for the flock. Never mind that, it is someone else's turn to pick up where we left off, to take charge and do what needs to be done. Max and the rest of us saved the world once, it is someone elses job to save it again.

I wish you all the best, really i do. I am taking my e-mail address off the fansites. It is time for us to get some rest. I think I'll retire, at age seventeen I have been through enough for a lifetime. Maybe write a book, who knows what's going to happen. Life is about living, not always knowing what's next.

That's the fun of it.

Iggy Pov:

In the fall I am going to school, i will not say where or for what. Probably for many things. I hacked into the MaxRide credit card, backtraced the account codes and found a pretty nice sum of money. Since itex is gone and we didn't actually get paid for our suffering and emotional damage I figured we should take steps to ensure...Oh what the heck. I wired the cash into six savings accounts with Nudge's help. We are all set for life.

Things are still as close to normal as we will get. We fly in the canyon, we argue at the dinner table and Max still cannot cook. Somethings never change, somethings always change. You never know which is which.

No Pov:

There were six. Designed to be the best, the strongest. Given a gift people only dream of, skills the like of which were never seen before or since.

Beneath all that they were human. They felt pain, joy, love, greif, hate and hope. They saved us, all of us. Now they bear the scars, live with the consequences. Everything has a conequence, a world saved and soldier made is a childhood lost and a family broken.

Lucky, not all consequences are bad, a family was made, a new kind, out of love, trust and nothing more.

This was their story, how they became one instead of six, how they learned to fight, most importantly how they learned to fly.

**-Twilightjunkie1313**


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